


Damned if i do, dam-ed if I don't

by MidnightRaven



Series: All Dammed Up [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Fantasy, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Merfolk AU, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-09-25 03:05:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9800087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightRaven/pseuds/MidnightRaven
Summary: When humans begin building a dam on their river, Daichi and his friends must make a choice. Will they migrate to the ocean, like many others of them have, or will they stay and risk being trapped? Unfortunately, either option is damning, just not in the way Daichi expected.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For Daichi Rarepair Week, Day 7: Merfolk AU 
> 
> I'm dying, this one was much longer than it was supposed to be and I didn't even write some parts I wanted to. This was edited in a rush, though I'll go over it again sometime, so I might have missed some mistakes.
> 
> Edit: Finally went and edited it again, I'm so sorry for making you guys read that the mistakes i found had me dying inside

The loud rumble of machines vibrated through the ground and the air, accompanied by humans shouts. The image of everything above was distorted by the water between them and Daichi, but it didn't ease the ice-cold fear that slowly ran down his spine. He had seen this before, much more distanced and not as personal, had heard stories and warnings of this very event.

The humans were building a dam on their river.

He could see the trenches that would drain away the river further down, could see the hard rock and steel that would become a wall being piled near the river, could see the the usual river visitors darting away. If this river was sealed off, it would trap them in their lake.

Daichi turned and swam back as fast as his tail could take him. He needed to inform the others.

* * *

Daichi had quickly gathered up rest of his small tribe, made up of the merfolk he had grew up with- Sugawara Koushi, Asahi Azumane and Shimizu Kiyoko- and informed them of the dam. The four of them had been silent for a long moment before they started considering- would they stay?

Or would they leave?

“We could be spotted,” Asahi added and Daichi could see the two rows of spines on his back raise the slightest. Kiyoko nodded before also softly offering, “We’d be able to hide within our caves. They can be sealed off if needed.”

Daichi could see all them mulling over it, genuinely giving both options a thought.

“We’d have to hide wouldn’t we. That’s….” Sugawara trailed off.

“That’s not living,” Daichi put in firmly. “I’d love to stay here, it’s our home, our first territory- but…”

Daichi crossed his arms, staring down at the lakebed and following the swaying of the aquatic plants there. “That isn’t something I think we want to live with. I know we don’t go to the ocean or other rivers beyond trades and travelling- but I think it’ll be better than being trapped here.”

Sugawara glanced around them sadly, taking in the old rocky river bed and the areas where he knew were homes to certain fish or those small little crayfish Asahi was afraid of. This was where they had decided to settle down years ago; years of travelling up and down this river and into nearby lakes, it was their very first home together.

“I think so too, Daichi. I’ll follow you wherever you go- I trust you.”

Asahi and Kiyoko both voiced their agreement, taking in their surroundings with new eyes and soaking in every last detail they could, like it was their last time here. Daichi swallowed, feeling like the weight of their lives were sitting on his shoulders. They’d follow his lead; stay or go.

“Go pack. We’ll go hunting and stock up our supplies- we’ll leave as soon as we can.”

* * *

Unfortunately, it took more than a few days to even make a dent on their list of tasks.

It was required for them to bury and seal off any items or caves that even pointed to possible merfolk existence- it was a one way trip to human hands if they didn’t, possibly even taking the rest of them within other bodies of water with them.

Daichi visited the dam everyday, and every day that twist in his gut squeezed harder, all knotted up and burning. One day, he stared at the unfinished dam and returned with a heavy heart.

“You guys need to leave now.”

They all paused. Their packs, made of reed and tightly weaved together, were mostly full, filled with the little things they would be taking with, basic essentials and a supply of food. The main cave they lived in still needed to be sealed and buried.

“What about you, Daichi?” Kiyoko questioned. Daichi shook his head, moving to gather up the last of their things.

“We need to leave before the humans progress with their dam. Take the packs and go- I’ll finish up here.”

“We’re not leaving you here alone with humans, Daichi!” Asahi protested.

“They’ll have a harder time finding one of us than four, I’ll be fine,” Daichi replied. He would be fine, he could hide should he need to.

“That may be true…” Kiyoko said, her tail coming to brush against his. “But we’re all going or not at all, Daichi.”

Asahi nodded, picking at the scales scattered on his wrist. Sugawara floated closer, punching Daichi on his shoulder. “We'll finish everything together- the four of us will be faster than you by yourself. Stop being so concerned, we’ll get out before they finish.”

Daichi looked at them all, recalling the ditches dug into the ground, not yet connected to their river, not yet ready to start the destruction of their home. He recalled the countless steel machines that roared and the rumble that penetrated the ground.

Close by him, Kiyoko and Asahi’s long side fins brushed against his sides, reassuring and comforting. Sugawara was by his side, smile mild and serious but also fiercely determined and optimistic.

“Okay,” he breathed.

* * *

By the time all their loose ends were tied up, the dam had began being built.

Their river had lowered in volume as water was being redirected and metal poles now blocked their exit. They would have to jump over the blockade if they wanted to leave.

Daichi swam in front of the metal grid, the holes weren’t big enough for them to slide though, before poking his head out. He needed to check that no humans were watching the dam. The loud sounds that were now familiar to them was a distracting hum in the distance as the humans warbled at each other.

It was only at night when they had gone, their machines still and everything was quiet- practically silent compared to daytime. The stars shone dimly above him and his gut twisted tightly. The banks of the river where they had watched several land creatures and birds were gone, all muddied and trampled. The water itself had grown dark from the debris and soil dissolving in the water and they had found many things that the humans had thrown in the riverbed.

It was time to leave their home.

* * *

Riverfolk, the merfolk that lived in the rivers and lakes instead of the ocean or sea like their counterparts, often don't jump out of the water. Not only did it require a lot of space to build up speed and momentum, it was highly risky as they were much closer to humans.

Out in midair, they were also extremely vulnerable; their heavy tails barely helped, often preventing them from gaining height if not enough speed was picked up. Unfortunately it was something Daichi and his tribe would have to risk.

Daichi had already given them the green light, letting them swim a great distance away for the needed space. He stayed by the dam, in case a human decided to come back and could potentially spot one of them. He’d go after the others have gone.

Daichi fingered the four packs they had, they weren’t full but they had never kept a lot of items since they were often on the move.

Movement caught his eye and he made sure he stayed far away to prevent himself from possibly affecting Asahi’s jump.

Asahi’s broad, earthly brown tail effortlessly took him through the water; the two rows of spines flat against his back from the water pressure and speed, his long hair flowing behind him him like a second tail. His arms were against his sides, giving him less resistance, and he burst out of the water before landing with a echoing splash on the other side.

The splashing water seemed awfully loud in the dead of the night and Daichi waited a short moment, eyes out for any movement, before he swam up to the metal gate. He passed the bags through the small holes to Asahi. It was much easier for them to do this as trying to jump with them could have ended badly- even the slightest weight change could throw them off.

There was a brief moment between Asahi and Kiyoko, but when Daichi had not come to warn them, Kiyoko began her approach; her black-gray tail flowing behind her and the trailing fins on her hips pressed against her tail. She broke through the surface smoothly before cutting back into it on the other side.

Daichi poked his head out of the water, surveying the area before going under again, this time, waiting for Sugawara.

Sugawara approached, his gray scales glowing a soft silver under the moon; his long slim tail fluid behind him as he jumped. He landed with a softer splash, twisting himself around when he was fully submerged.

Checking one last time, Daichi popped his head out. The area was still empty and dead as before and he dived down and away, distancing himself from the dam.

He gave one last, long look around him. They wouldn't be able to come back. This would be the last time any of them would be here, the last time to physically see the place where they made their best memories.

Daichi faced forward and swam; his plain black tail was broad and it let him pick up speed easily. The single row of spines on his back flattened, pressing down as the approached the surface.

The surface was coming up quickly and- he was soaring over the dam.

The night air was cold and it stung at his eyes and the gills on his sides. Quickly reaching forward, he let his hands and arms help him enter the water, his tail flicking as he submerged. He took a moment to re-orientate, using the leftover momentum to bring himself upright again.

Daichi regrouped with the others, ignoring the metal gate behind them, ignored the uncompleted dam that loomed over him even now when it barely existed.

And he looked forward, looked down the river where they had travelled in and out many times and raced each other down and played in.

They’d make new memories.

* * *

Their plan was to travel to a nearby city, Sereena, and then decide from there. They could stay in the ocean or even the sea, or search for another lake to call their own.

The trip down the river was silent and sorrowful as they passed areas where they had passed many times before, though with happier occasions. Most of it remained unchanged.

Daichi nibbled on the small clam meat they had shucked beforehand for the journey. It was something they always did for long journeys, it helped them stay on the move even if they grew hungry and kept up their strength.

Their river was a couple of miles out from the ocean, connected to their lake at one end and into a sea at the other. Whenever they traveled to other rivers they would travel along the sea but this time, they would be heading straight into the ocean.

It wouldn’t be their first trip out, they had gone and visited some established cities and villages in the ocean- most of the services run by merfolk were out in the ocean where the risk of getting found was decreased.

“I’m not looking forward to the acclimatization,” Sugawara started lightheartedly. He had enough of their gloomy mood, if there was one thing that could help was at least not brooding over the situation.

Asahi took a moment to register the words before laughing and agreeing, “Me neither. The salt always makes me so itchy.”

“It also lightens your hair,” Kiyoko reminded him and he groaned, tugging the tips of his hair. His hair lightened into a light brown whenever they stayed in saltwater for a long period. Currently, it was a vivid dark brown, not unlike his tail, but he knew in a few weeks it would bleach into a lighter shade.

“My mouth will be filled with salt,” Daichi lamented and everyone made agreeing groans. The transition from freshwater to saltwater, while fortunately was possible for them, was not as pleasant as they’d like it to be. Nothing painful but their bodies had to become accustomed to taking in more water in response to all the salt instead of storing whatever sodium they could get.

That translated to tasting salt for a long time and sometimes the change caused irritation and made them itchy- Asahi in particular had that problem.

“Enjoy the freshwater while you still can,” Sugawara teased. Asahi flicked his tail at him, protesting, ”You barely have any problems with the ocean, stop picking on me.”

“You just have sensitive scales,” Sugawara shot back. Kiyoko laughed quietly, because out of all of them both her and Sugawara had the least amount of problems with the change.

Daichi joined in, laughing despite the mocking that was also directed at him- he wasn’t much better than Asahi with his sensitive scales.

They’d be alright.

Ocean or river- they’d be alright.

* * *

“You know, I didn’t expect a Meet and Greet,” Sugawara commented as they reached Sereena four days later.

“I think it’s an annual thing,” Kiyoko chipped in as Asahi crowded a bit closer to them, uneasy at all the merfolk darting about. Daichi stopped at the outskirts of the city, near the gates that welcomed any merfolk visiting.

They had planned on staying in the city and this Meet and Greet would most likely be the focus of the city. Daichi glanced at all the colourful decoration and the vivid tails and fins- this would be the first Meet and Greet he had ever been to.

“We should ask about any available space after the initial rush is gone,” Daichi decided. From what he knew, it would be easier to get available space after the event began and merfolk either partnered up for spaces or left the event early.

“What are we going to do in the meantime then?” Asahi asked, hyper focused on the large schools of merfolk. He was rather uneasy around large groups and they could see it in his tensed shoulders and the way his spines were unconsciously raised.

Sugawara thumped him on the back, careful to avoid the raised spines, and nudged him in the direction of the city. “We can go see if we find any good looking merfolk!”

Daichi and Asahi both blanched while Kiyoko merely stared at him. Sugawara rolled his eyes. “We barely meet up with any other merfolk and this happens? All of you- go socialize!”

“Especially you!” Sugawara pointed at Daichi who raised his hands up in an attempt to placate the other before he got riled up enough. Too late.

“You need to go talk to more merfolk than just us and whenever you’re doing your-”Sugawara puffed up his chest, crossed his arms and lowered his voice, “-’what are you doing in this part of the river?’ or even ‘I apologize for what my stupid tribe members have done, we’ll be leaving your territory as soon as possible’.”

“I don’t talk like that!” Daichi objected. “And I sort of need to say those things as you decided to appoint me as tribe leader.”

Sugawara ignored him. “Basically, you should go and find a mate!”

“Erm- he has a point…” Asahi meekly pointed out. He was smacked in the chest by Daichi’s heavy tail and he raised his arms, shutting up.

“I refuse. When would I ever have time for that?” Daichi said stubbornly. Kiyoko coughed before pointedly stating, “You don’t have to guard our territory anymore, you have plenty of time now.”

“At this exact moment,” Sugawara clarified pointedly. Asahi hid a snicker behind his hand and Daichi absentmindedly noticed that he had relaxed, his spines had gone back down. He hesitated in biting back a counterargument because if he was going to be honest with himself, he loved this group of friends that was his tribe, but he also loved the idea of a mate, of someone that would be with him and he could care for and be cared by back.

That split second of hesitation, that was caught by all three of them, was enough for Sugawara to start pushing him towards the middle of the city- and into the very centre of the Meet and Greet.

Kiyoko and Asahi followed behind them as he was strong armed into the city, much to their amusement and of several strangers that chortled at his situation. While Daichi was glad that his friends thought he would be enough to attract someone’s attention, he wasn’t exactly sure himself.

Meet and Greets were often held and planned months in advance to give chance for the news to travel throughout the entire sea. It let merfolk that were travelling or lived further away to meet up with other merfolk and hopefully find a mate. These events helped as it was rare to run into any other merfolk whenever traveling the ocean.

Daichi passed a great variety of fins; long ones, fluttery ones, slender and sharp ones, broad and fan-like ones. Many of them were vibrant or shiny, some were even multicolored or had patterns like stripes and spots. He grimaced at his own tail, which was merely broad and plain black.

Sugawara, who had only stopped pushing him when he yielded and started swimming, perked up when he spotted a group of merfolk with very shiny scales. Daichi snorted. Sugawara always did have a fondness for shiny things.

He elbowed the other and tilted his head towards the group. “Go, I’m sure you can at least make a friend or two.”

Sugawara hesitated for a moment before pointing at all three of them. “You all better at least try to talk to someone.”

He left, tail flicking Daichi’s nose cheekily. Daichi called after him, “Meet up with us at the Reefs later!”

Daichi sighed, looking at the other two. Asahi was nervously crowding into him, spines once again raised defensively, while Kiyoko surveyed the crowds with a passive eye.

“Are we really doing this,” Asahi whispered as his tail bumped into Daichi’s. With another, heavier sigh, Daichi punched him, ignoring his yelp, and encouraged, “Go straighten up and show off that tail of yours.”

Kiyoko patted his shoulder, silently encouraging him. Blinking, she saw something- or rather, someone- catch her eye and she motioned at them. The two of them waved her away with faint ‘good luck’s.

“We can go get some food, that would still count as talking to someone,” Daichi hissed as quietly as he could. Asahi shook his head frantically. “Suga would descale us if he found out.”

“What do you suggest then?”

Asahi blanked, scratching his chin. “Er- well…”

“Exactly.”

Looking around, Daichi spotted a food stall, indicated by the oyster shells hanging on the coral of the flat rock. Several more oyster shells were laid out on the rock, filled with various types of food. He dragged them over to the stall, greeting the merfolk tending to it with a smile.

“What can I get for you? All the food is free today.”

“Could we get the salmon and….” Daichi looked as Asahi who glanced over the available choices before adding, “the shellfish mix please.”

The merfolk picked out the shells with their food and handed them over, grinning. “Here you go! Best of luck you two!”

Asahi picked at his food as they hovered around the outskirts of the event, watching as majority of the merfolk flirted and flitted around each other. This would be a big change from before, where they’d only stop by cities for some rest during their travels before moving on. Daichi knew they wouldn’t be settling down in a city, in general only the merfolk that wanted to offer a service of some kind stayed in cities.

Merfolk were nomadic, up until they found their own territory- though sometimes even that didn’t satisfy their wanderlust. It was why merfolk had problems finding other merfolk and the idea of meet ups happened. As most tribes were made up of friends and mated pairs joining up, it became a problem when a good number of them weren’t able to even find potential friends or mates.

“My itchiness is getting worse,” Daichi absentmindedly commented, scratching at the scales splashed across his hips. Asahi groaned, now that Daichi had pointed it out, he began becoming all too aware of the itches.

“Thanks, I forgot about that.”

Daichi snorted. “No problem.”

* * *

Kuroo had gone to many Meet and Greets in the past few years but he hadn’t been able to find anyone that really interested him. There had been flirty ones, distant ones, energetic ones, but if he was being honest he wasn’t even sure what he was looking for.

He had met Bokuto at a meet a few years back and the two had struck up a neverending friendship. Bokuto and their friends had actually formed a tribe together, though it wasn’t just them as several of them came and went, but it was their unofficial family.

It had been Bokuto’s idea to encourage their tribe leader, Akaashi, to participate in a Meet and Greet. Which was why he was here, wandering around in boredom. He had seen many of the folk gathered here already; some went to multiple meet ups before finding someone or even just came to catch up with friends.

“Kuroooo,” Bokuto wailed from behind him before slamming into his back and wrapping his arms around his waist. Kuroo beat at the water with his tail frantically to prevent them from rolling over. “I think Akaashi actually found someone!!”

Another thing that showed they were really close friends- they were freely touchy with each other. They didn’t mind any contact between them, though Kuroo was very mindful of the poisonous spines that were hidden in the spiny fins on Bokuto’s hips and waist.

“What, really?” Kuroo asked, turning around in Bokuto’s arms. Thankfully, despite the other’s excitement, his spines had not instinctively raised and Kuroo made sure to avoid pressing up on them. He had made that mistake once, and never again.

“I think he had bigger arms than me??” Bokuto pouted, glancing at his own biceps. “I haven’t seen him before but he came with Oikawa and his shinies.”

“Oh? Did Oikawa actually make a friend,” Kuroo sang, searching the crowds. Oikawa was never hard to find as he surrounded himself with the shiny folk.

“They seemed pretty close,” Bokuto informed, backing up to flap his hand to their left. “He’s over there- see the one with the shiny bronze tail?”

“Mm,” Kuroo hummed, spotting the only merfolk with a shimmering bronze tail. While the broad arms and muscles were very nice in his opinion, he wasn’t overly fond of the shiny scales that attracted a lot of attention. He also spotted Akaashi talking to the merfolk, his tail a sleek black that reflected the smallest hints of light.

“I don’t suppose anyone’s caught your eye?” Kuroo wondered, turning to the other who just shrugged.

“Noo. It’s not like they’re not pretty or really nice- but. Like.” Bokuto struggled for the right words before just flailing. “They’re not what I’m looking for?”

Kuroo nodded in agreement, definetly understanding the predicament.

“I just want to find someone that looks good, is nice enough, someone we get along with. All these are nice and all-” Kuroo gestures to the flashy tails and shining scales. They looked beautiful, he liked the look but it wasn’t what he was looking for. He could only take so much shine and glitter. “-but something...more less? Not as glowy but still bold….something like- something like that.”

Bokuto followed his intrested stare to look at a merfolk with short black hair and brown eyes and a broad tail that was a flat black color, neither absorbing or reflecting light.

“He has really nice shoulders,” Bokuto commented, beginning to leer at the subject of interest. Kuroo whipped around, scowling at him, half serious and half joking, “Hey, I saw him first!”

Bokuto just cackled as he darted over and Kuroo quickly chased after him.

* * *

“Hey, hey, hey!”

Daichi and Asahi both paused as another merfolk swam up to them, waving his arms. The merfolk had black and white hair that curled in the water around him and sharp golden eyes, his tail was an interesting striped black and white pattern- reminding Daichi of the lionfish they had seen before- and he had trailing fins on his hips and lower back, all long and tapered to an edge. Unlike the two of them, he also had a slightly slenderer figure, more long than wide- though he certainly wasn’t lacking in muscles.

“Hello,” Daichi greeted slowly, not entirely sure why someone had approached them.

“I’m Bokuto Koutarou! How-” Bokuto was cut off by another merfolk barreling into him.

“Bokuto- how could you?!”

“It wasn’t like you were going to make a first move!”

The two began verbally sparring, thankfully with a friendly, joking undertone he was familiar with. It would have been incredibly awkward be in the middle of a fight.

Daichi took in the newcomer, staring at the awkwardly thick black hair and bright amber eyes. He was long, both his upper and lower body. His scales were a vivid red that deepened into a crimson then black at his fluttery tail fins. Curiously, there was a white spot near the end of his tail but Daichi dismissed it as a spot or pattern of some kind. Oceanfolk were always more colorful and decorated than the ones born in rivers.

“Hi- I’m Kuroo Tetsurou and I’m so sorry about him,” Kuroo suddenly addressed them, still pushing Bokuto’s face away with one hand. Bokuto muttered something they didn’t hear and Kuroo hissed something back, shoulders raised.

“Sawamura Daichi,” Daichi offered before pointing to Asahi. “That’s my friend and tribe member, Azumane Asahi.”

“Nice to meet you?” Asahi hesitantly said, eyeing where Kuroo seemed to be attempting to strangle Bokuto by the neck as if he was a human.

“We were just wondering how you two were doing!” Bokuto chirped, ripping Kuroo’s hand off his mouth and eagerly staring at them. Kuroo pushed him away again, mortified.

“What he means is, I hope we’re not bothering you if we wanted to- chat?” Kuroo nearly squeaked out the last word with a cringe. He wouldn’t live that down. Bokuto wouldn’t let him ever forget it.

Daichi gave a confused blink but nodded. “Sure?”

Asahi raised his eyebrows before coughing and cutting in, “Um. I think I see someone I know- Daichi, I’ll see you after. Have fun.”

Daich watched as Asahi rushed off, even more confused by his quick and sudden departure because Asahi definitely did not know anyone here beyond Sugawara and Kiyoko. He turned to Kuroo and Bokuto who were now staring at him.

“So,” Daichi awkwardly started. “What...brings you two here?

Daichi immediately wanted to punch himself. They were at a Meet and Greet, it was obvious why they would be here.

“Catching up with friends actually,” Kuroo said surprisingly, shoulders relaxing. Bokuto beamed.

“And we brought out friend to hopefully find someone!”

“We haven’t see you at any meet ups before, you’re new right?” Kuroo asked. He probably would have noticed if he had seen Daichi before, the plain tails he and his friend had stood out within the crowds of shining and vivid scales.

Daichi nodded, motioning to the direction Asahi had left. “We came from the rivers actually. We’ve been to cities but never to any meet ups. This is my first time being at one.”

“Enjoying the city life?” Kuroo teased, inching closer with a mocking grin. Daichi gritted his teeth as he bristled.

“There seems to be an awful lot of scoundrels here.” Daichi made it perfectly clear with a pointed look that he was referring to Kuroo and his hair. Bokuto hooted in laughter as he tipped over, curling up with mirth. Kuroo gave a gasp as he fought a sudden grin, grasping his chest as his tail fluttered against Daichi’s.

“That hurts, Sawamura.”

“Good.”

Daichi wasn’t sure why he was getting this riled up, but the expressions on Kuroo’s face sent a thrill up his spine. Bokuto finally straightened up, leaning into Daichi’s space- the trailing fins on his sides softly brushing up against Daichi- and grinned.

“I like you, Sawamura. Most don’t comment on Kuroo’s mess of a hair.”

Daichi shot a pointed look at the mess on Kuroo’s head, incredulous. “Really? But it’s so…”

He wordlessly waves a hand at it and Bokuto snorted in agreement, drifting close enough that their tails tapped against each other before backing off again. Kuroo pouted, trying to flatten and straighten out his hair underwater, complaining, “Would you two stop, I can’t control it.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Daichi chuckled, much more at ease around the two. As his laugh died down, he observed them, soaking in Kuroo’s vivid colours and Bokuto’s stripes. Riverfolk weren’t ‘pretty’ and, in general, didn’t have any patterns. Majority of them were dull grays and browns and blacks.

“Hey, Sawamura, come meet our friends!” Bokuto offered eagerly. Kuroo nodded, looking at him hopefully. “We should probably go check on Akaashi anyways.”

Daichi considered it. It could be odd, seeing as they had only met- were all oceanfolk this friendly?- but he didn’t have anything else to do. At the very least, he would be able to tell Sugawara he did in fact socialize.

“Yeah, sure.”

They both grinned as he joined them, swimming between the two as they led the way. They kept the pace slow and unhurried, chatting and poking fun at each other and Daichi couldn’t resist joining in- shedding his responsibilities, if only for a while, for something more fun, more carefree and liberating.

* * *

By the end of the day, Daichi had several new friends and was now armed with many embarrassing stories about Kuroo and Bokuto.

“Thanks for today,” Daichi managed to admit at the end. The two jumped on that like it was some kind of valuable treasure.

“Ooooh?” Bokuto leaned close to him, their noses almost touching. Kuroo angled himself close to his back, inquiring smugly in his ear, “Did you just admit you enjoyed our company?”

Daichi considered lying and leaving the two of them to sulk. But truly, they had made his day much better. So, he gave them that.

“Reluctantly,” he allowed, his tail bumping into both of theirs with their closeness. “...Could you two give me a little space?”

There was a pause before both Bokuto and Kuroo drew back, an air of disappointment around them and Daichi bit his lip, worried. Had he violated some social custom that they had but he was unaware of? There was a large gap in his knowledge about oceanfolk and he felt like he was floundering in a way he hadn’t since he was a hatchling.

As if knowing he was mentally scrambling for a footing, Kuroo directed them back into a casual conversation. “You said you needed to meet with your friends right? Where were you planning to meet up?”

“Ah, at the Reefs,” Daichi replied, taking a look around them. They had broken off them the rest of the merfolk when Daichi had said he needed to be going soon. The coral to his left looked vaguely familiar and he spotted, what was hopefully, the food stand in the distance.

“We can lead you there! We know this city like we build it,” Bokuto piped in.

Daichi was already raising his hands, objecting, “You don’t have to! I’ll be able to find my way back. Thank you for today, I really enjoyed it.”

“It won’t be a problem!” Kuroo quickly said, going to pat his shoulder before stopping and awkwardly pulling back, using his hand to motion to their left instead. “It’s just over there and we’re staying pretty close so it won’t be a problem.”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Bokuto urged, racing off. He turned around and waved at them. “Come on, you slugs!”

Kuroo grinned at Daichi before going after Bokuto. Daichi followed after them, a bit bewildered because he had seen that aborted motion. He wasn’t sure what to make of it.

* * *

“Look at you, Daichi,” Sugawara greeted him with a smirk.

“I thought for sure you were going to talk to one person before calling it a day,” Sugawara teased before turning to the two. “Sugawara Koushi, but just call me Suga.”

“Kuroo Tetsurou, nice to meet you.”

“Hey, hey, Suga- I’m Bokuto Koutarou!” Bokuto announced before edging closer to mock whisper, “We found Sawamura hanging out with Azumane so he didn’t actually talk to anyone till we came to chat!”

Daichi gaped, not sure what to do at the sudden betrayal and flinching when Sugawara whacked him in the chest, doing the same to Asahi.

“You’re lucky that those two ended up talking to you,” Sugawara said, pointing a finger at Daichi. Daichi moved to protest but didn’t get the chance to before Sugawara turned his glare towards Asahi, who cowered under it. “And _you_.”

“I’m really sorry! I ended up talking to this really nice guy after I left Daichi! I promise- I even talked to the food vender again!” Asahi spewed out, hands up in case he would get smacked again. Sugawara seemed to mull over it for a moment before smacking him on the back.

“Then congrats! You finally weren’t a wimp!”

Sawamura huffed from beside Kuroo. “I talked to Akaashi and Iwaizumi without any of your help."

“But you wouldn’t have even met them if we hadn’t come to chat with little nervous you,” Kuroo countered with a smirk. Daichi scowled.

“I should hit you for that. Just because you and all your friends are longer than me.”

“Iwaizumi was around the same size,” Bokuto stated with a grin. Sugawara swam closer just then, poking Daichi in the chest. Bokuto and Kuroo both backed up to make space for him, giving their tails and fins a wide berth.

“You owe me something for not listening to me.”

Daichi scoffed, crossing his arms and mulishly stating, “I talked to someone. I did what you wanted.”

Sugawara narrowed his eyes and the two of them stared each other down. Asahi stayed well away from the two and Bokuto and Kuroo took a hint, also giving them more space. While they had their staredown, another merfolk swam over, paying no mind to the two’s staredown beyond a glance.

“Ah, Kiyoko, how’d it go?” Asahi greeted. Kiyoko gave a small nod and said softly, “I found someone I’m interested in.”

Asahi brightened up, smiling. “Congratulations! I guess we’ll be staying here for the whole event then?”

“Mhm.” Kiyoko nodded before glancing at the two that were unknown to her. Asahi jolted and introduced, “Ah! This is Bokuto and Kuroo, they were chatting with Daichi today. And that’s Shimizu Kiyoko, she’s also a part of our tribe.”

They didn’t have anytime for anything other than their short greetings before Sugawara hastily made his way over, Daichi making a strange yelp as he left, and nearly swam into Kiyoko. “What’s this I hear about you courting someone?!”

“Not courting yet,” Kiyoko corrected before a small smile curled her lips. “She’s really shy.”

“Introduce her to us sometime soon!” Sugawara demanded before beaming. “Congratulations! I’m very happy for you.”

“Thank you. Did you find anyone yourself?” Kiyoko questioned back. Bokuto was by Daichi’s side, laughing at the other’s sour look and how he was rubbing his side from where Sugawara had jabbed him.

“Ehh, I found a few friends but I don’t think I’m interested in any of them. They’re really pretty though, if any of you are interested.” Sugawara winked at everyone except Kiyoko.

Daichi grumbled, “Thanks but no thanks. If they’re anything like you then I’m staying far, far away.”

“Oooh, are you talking about Oikawa and his tribe?” Bokuto piped in. Sugawara perked up, nodding.

“You know them?”

“We know everyone that comes to these meet ups! Unless it’s newcomers like you guys,” Kuroo informed rather proudly. Bokuto turned to Daichi and added, “Iwaizumi is part of OIkawa’s tribe I think. They’re all a blast!”

“Terushima is a blast,” Kuroo commented and Sugawara chortled, agreeing.

Shaking his head and hiding a fond smile, Daichi cut in, “Okay, let’s not talk about that anymore today. We still need to go find our lodgings.”

He turned to Bokuto and Kuroo, genuinely smiling at them. “Really, thank you for today.”

“Anytime!” Bokuto exclaimed enthusiastically, eyes wide and bright and glued onto Daichi.

“Really, anytime-we had a lot of fun too,” Kuroo blurted out.

“How about we meet up tomorrow? Sugawara offered.

“Yes!” Bokuto shouted before saying more softly, in a rush, “That would be great, we'd love to spend more time with you.”

“We can meet back here tomorrow morning?” Kuroo suggested, watching as the four of them communicated silently and shared a nervous look with Bokuto.

“That sounds good,” Daichi confirmed for all of them, giving them a final bright smile. “We'll see you tomorrow!”

“See you,” Bokuto and Kuroo both called out as they swam away. They floated there in silence for a bit before they threw themselves into each other’s arms.

“Did you see his smile?! Or the way he handled Oikawa!?”

“Did you hear his _laugh_?! _Did you not see him completing with Iwaizumi in that rock lifting contest_.”

Kuroo moaned in agony. “I know he said to give him some space, but it felt like he wasn’t even acknowledging our interest in him.

Bokuto agreed with an agonized sound before stilling and biting his lip.

“Hey, Kuroo. If he chooses one of us….”

Kuroo quickly caught on and firmly met Boktuo’s nervous gaze and firmly stated, “If he chooses one of us then we’re still friends, okay?”

Bokuto relaxed, hugging him. “Of course!”

* * *

“Daichiiiii,” Sugawara sang, poking his cheek. “You caught the eye of two attractive merfolk, you’re such a siren.”

Daichi gave him a confused look. “What?”

Sugawara paused before venturing, ”Bokuto and Kuroo?”

“Oh, them?” Daichi laughed, waving his hand in dismissal. “No, no. I think they’re mated with each other honestly. They came up to me because I looked really out of place.”

“They spent a lot of time annoying me,” he lamented.

Sugawara and the others shared a look before he said, “Oh. I thought they had taken an interest in you.”

Daichi grumbled at that. “An interest in riling me up maybe.”

* * *

The next day had them wandering the city once again, this time for food.

They had been able to find lodgings at a shell cavern, they had been offering a lot of their rooms for free for the Meet and Greet, and they had quickly fell asleep in the kelp beds provided. Daichi had gotten them all up in the morning and they began their search for food. They’d been at it for awhile, not a lot of places looked like it sold any decent food.

Thankfully, their new friends came across them.

“Hey! What are you all doing here?” Kuroo called from where he was hovering a few paces above them, holding a basket-like container. A bit behind him was Bokuto and two other merfolk they had not seen before. “The Reefs are in the opposite direction!”

Daichi recognized Akaashi from the day before, his silver-speckled black tail a huge hint. The fourth merfolk however, he did not recognize. He had long hair that was half black and half blond, sharp eyes and a slender black tail, shaded with spots of yellow.

“We were hoping to get some food first,” Daichi called back, his eyes wandering back to Kuroo, who had switched direction and was swimming towards him. His tail flowed beautifully through the water and the motions curved his spine invitingly, Daichi absentmindedly observed.

“Ohh.” Kuroo smirked, wiggling the basket in front of him like some amazing treasure found within sunken human ships. “Lucky for you, we were going to bring some food over. This city isn’t exactly known for delicious food.”

“Thank you, Kuroo,“ Daichi said gratefully, beaming. “Anything you woul-”

Kuroo shushed him, softening. “No trading, it’s a gift.”

“Hey, Sawamura!!” Bokuto greeted as soon as he caught up, nearly running into Kuroo. Akaashi and the other merfolk were still a few paces away, not rushing. “We were on our way to meet you!”

“Nice to know we were remembered,” Sugawara whispered amusedly to Kiyoko, who gave a silent puff of laughter.

“Oh! This is Kuroo and mine’s tribe!” Bokuto said, pointing to Akaashi and the other merfolk as they joined up with them. “That’s Akaashi Keiji, our tribe leader- with the shiny tail, and Kenma- the one with the yellow spots!”

“Nice to meet you all,” Akaashi greeted. “And nice to see you again, Sawamura.”

Kenma merely nodded at them politely, hanging back with Asahi and Kiyoko as Sugawara and Akaashi struck up a conversation. Daichi, however, had the pleasure of having Kuroo and Bokuto’s undivided attention.

Kuroo passed Daichi the basket with a smile, watching as he opened it and his face brightened up at the sight of tuna fillets and a bunch of shucked shellfish.

“Did you all eat already?” Daichi questioned, covering the basket back up with the seaweed lid. They could eat once they settled down and enjoy the meal. Bokuto nodded before crossing his arms and puffing out his chest proudly.

“We got up to make sure we got the best pieces!”

“Really, thank you for all this. We really appreciate it.”

“We couldn't have you starving on your first day here now could we,” Kuroo teased, nudging his shoulder. “It’s no problem, please enjoy it.”

“Do you have any favourite prey?” Bokuto curiously asked. “My favourite is lobster but we don’t get time to hunt for them anymore.”

Daichi shrugged, a bit stumped at the question. “We mostly eat shellfish and freshwater fish so I don’t know much about the food here. I like octopus? We had it once when we were travelling.”

“Tsk, tsk, you deprived soul,” Kuroo teased and Bokuto gaped at him in shock before declaring, “We’re going to take you and find as much food as we can! You have to try them all!”

Daichi laughed, looking forward to the idea, and a smile spread across his face. “I would like that!”

Kuroo and Bokuto both grinned in reply, shooting each other elated and wide eyed looks.

* * *

“Did you guys have any plans after the meetup?” Kuroo had asked as they settled down by the Reefs, taking a seat next to Daichi on the rock perches nearby. The massive boulder had been chipped away at until it had many plate-like platforms cut out of it around the entire rock; the platforms were on alternating heights, letting them settle down but still be close to others. Akaashi had informed them that these had been made specially to let merfolk have a place to rest without disturbing the coral.

Bokuto quickly flopped onto Daichi’s other side, the perch was big enough to hold his entire body while the last few inches of his tail hung over the edge as he twitched it restlessly. Asahi and Sugawara took a seat on a shelf just slightly above theirs, tails hanging over the edge as they took in the sight surrounding them. Kiyoko joined them after marveling at the coral and some of the smaller, unique fish that swam among it. Kenma and Akaashi took the shelf above Daichi, Bokuto and Kuroo; Kenma lazily sprawling out and letting his tail hang off the side while Akaashi laid beside him, resting his head on his crossed arms as he continued the conversation he had with the other three riverfolk.

Daichi had been in the middle of peeling off the seaweed lid before he paused, glancing towards his tribe.

“I’m not entirely sure. I think we might just travel around?” Daichi set aside the lid, looking down. “It sort of depends on if Kiyoko ends up courting the merfolk she’s interested in. I guess we’d just end up traveling either way, since they’d go on their Journey.”

“What about us?” Bokuto asked, tilting his head. Daichi looked at him in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“We’re at least friends aren’t we?” Bokuto explained. “Will you still see us after the meetup is officially over?”

“I don’t see why we can’t,” Daichi answered, searching them for the reason of that odd question. His answer seemed to satisfied them though, so he dropped it to dig into the basket of food. He chewed tentatively on a chunk of tuna, making a surprised, happy noise as he swallowed.

“This is really good!”

Bokuto puffed up, his spiny fins lighting slightly. “I told you we got the best pieces available for you!”

Daichi was too busy stuffing his face with the rest of the tuna to reply, his cheeks puffed up adorably as he bit off more than he could chew. Kuroo grinned at him, poking at a bulging cheek and teasing, “Don’t forget to share some of that with your friends, Sawamura.”

Daichi grunted disapprovingly at him, swallowing the mouthful of fish. “That’s not something I would forget.”

“We can get you some more tomorrow, Sawamura!” Bokuto assured, snatching a shellfish meat out of the basket not so sneakily. Daichi shot him a glare but let it go to stuff the last of the tuna fillet into his mouth. He then picked out a handful of what he recognized was oyster meat from the shellfish mix and handed the basket to Kuroo, wordlessly asking him to pass it on.

Kuroo was more than happy to comply, their fingers brushing as he took the basket and passed it to Sugawara, who was the closet. Sugawara smoothly paused the conversation as he took the basket and thanked Kuroo, fluidly picking the conversation back up as he placed the basket on Asahi’s lap so the three of them could reach it.

“Sawamuraaaa, tell us about rivers,” Kuroo prompted when the other swallowed all the fish in his mouth. “We’ve never been to any.”

“Yeah! We’ve always stayed in the ocean and seas- are they different?” Bokuto chimed in, chewing on the meat he stole. Daichi mulled over the question as he nibbled on a piece of oyster thoughtfully.

“Well, there’s much less space compared to the ocean. We don’t get coral,” Daichi added, nodding towards the coral reef surrounding them. “Rivers are also freshwater for the most part-”

“Wait, are you guys okay in the ocean?” Kuroo asked with wide eyes. Daichi laughed, reassuringly bumping his shoulder, though the concern was very much appreciated, warming his chest. “We can live in either freshwater or saltwater, it's just a change our body needs to take a moment to adapt to.”

“That's cool,” Bokuto breathed in awe. “Does that mean we can also go into freshwater?!”

“It's possible, though I don't know for sure,” Daichi said. “You'd have to deal with your body adjusting to the differences if you can.”

He waved a hand towards Asahi. “For example, Asahi’s scales get really itchy in saltwater. Most of us have that problem actually, but he has it worse.”

Daichi paused as he picked up another piece of oyster and said ruefully, “The taste of salt is all I can taste too when we first come into the ocean.”

“Bleh,” Bokuto commented, sticking his tongue out. “That doesn't sound nice.”

“Bokuto, we live in the ocean, you're constantly tasting salt," Kuroo remarked with a snigger. Bokuto directed his stuck out tongue at him with a rude noise.

Daichi chuckled at them before continuing, ”Maybe you guys would like it- it's very different compared to the ocean.”

“Maybe you could take us there one day?” Kuroo said tentatively, carefully watching him. Bokuto perked up and made a hopeful noise, nodding. Daichi considered it, thinking about their lake and the dam but he also thought about the other rivers they frequented and travelled in.

“Yeah, sure,” Daichi found himself agreeing without any hesitation. “We can see if you two can handle that.”

Bokuto smacked him gently, taking his words as a challenge. “We can do it! It can't be that hard!”

Daichi remembered his very first time in the ocean and how the awful itches drove him crazy and tried to apply that to Bokuto, who was restless and energetic. “We’ll see about that.”

“We can show you around later today,” Bokuto offered, peering up at him. “Akaashi probably won’t let us go too far but there’s still some great things to see here.”

“That would be great, we haven’t seen much of the ocean." Daichi looked at the coral surrounding them and all their shapes and colors, looked at the bright fish and the vivid tales most oceanfolk had. “Everything in the ocean is so colourful.”

“And you guys aren’t.” Kuroo commented, poking at Daichi’s flat, black scales. They had noticed that actually; Sugawara was a gray instead of the shiny silver they were used to and Kiyoko, while having the shades of black and white, was still pretty colourless compared to any oceanfolk.

“I guess that’s just how merfolk from the river are like,” Daichi muttered, swaying his tail in front of them. It looked lifeless in his eyes, the plain black colour. Compared to all the other bright tails, he felt rather inadequate. Though, from what he recalled, all riverfolk were pretty much plain colours, it was only when you went into the ocean then you saw all the bright and vivid tails. That had been a shook to his younger self, who had only known the few shades of brown, gray and black.

“Ah, sorry,” Kuroo quickly said, sensing the change in his mood. “I didn’t mean it like that- I think it looks great on you honestly.”

“Mhm! I don’t think I can imagine you with any other colour actually,” Bokuto agreed. “I like the way you look!”

Daichi floundered for words, rather thrown off, but couldn’t stop the involuntary smile that rose and the embarrassment that he was that easy to be read by them.

“Thanks.”

Despite what their first impression gave off about them, they were pretty nice. Even if they did tease him a lot.

* * *

Daichi took everything he had thought about them being nice back. They weren’t nice.

They were downright annoyances.

“I can’t believe you did that!”

“I didn’t mean to! It was coming towards me by itself!”

Daichi barely stopped himself from smacking his face, replying rather incredulously, “I don't even live in the ocean and even I know you’re _not supposed to go interact with a baby killer whale_.”

“Look, maybe we should stop arguing and try to get them off out tail?” Kuroo cut in, keeping a watchful eye on the three adult killer whales behind them. Thankfully, it was either a small pod or the other members were out hunting- either way, it was much better than having a large pod of killer whales after you.

“How have you two been living in the ocean,” Daichi demanded. He spotted Akaashi far ahead of them make the most pained face he had ever seen before the moment he saw them- or rather what was behind them- before turning to the others. They all turned and their faces were either terrified, ‘i-can’t-believe-this-is-happening-again’, or a mix of ‘what-the-hell-this-is-hilarious’ before they dived further down and away from the surface.

“We’ve been doing pretty good actually.” Kuroo pouted. “This doesn’t happen often, I swear.”

“And it wasn’t our fault the baby was curious!” Bokuto added on, his long spines pressed flat against his body. Daichi’s own spines were pressed flat against his back despite the automatic, defensive stiffening he was barely preventing. He couldn’t imagine how it would be with as many spines as Bokuto had.

Then again, he considered, observing the excited and surprised look on the others face, maybe he wasn’t that defensive over the situation.

It truthfully hadn't been his fault, the calf had indeed come up to them by itself. Unfortunately, its family and mother had not taken so greatly to that and had lunged at them.

"Sawamura, relax,” Kuroo soothed as they continued to dive down. “Killer whales don’t actively chase after merfolk unless we've done something downright terrible. They’re just making sure we’re far away from their pod.”

Bokuto nodded, all his muscles flexing with his tail. “We never give them a reason to hunt us, so they won’t.”

Daichi huffed, “It sounds like you speak from experience.”

Kuroo laughed nervously. “Well. We’ve encountered a few pods in our life.”

“It was fun!”

“Save me from you two, where did your survival instincts go,” Daichi muttered. Much like he had been told, the whales stopped chasing them after a couple more meters, slowly turning back.

They continued on until they caught up with the rest of their friends, flanks heaving from their fast paced and sucking in large mouthful of water to help breathe. The others weren't that much better off, though they did have a longer resting period than them.

“Did you two run straight into another pod?” Akaashi asked sharply, leveling an accusing glare at Bokuto and Kuroo. Bokuto shook his head, hands waving defensively.

“Akaaashi! It wasn’t my fault- the calf came up to us!”

Akaashi, apparently not trusting them, looked at Daichi who sighed but nodded, confirming, “The calf did come up by itself, the mother obviously wasn’t pleased.”

Sugawara laughed, coming up to Daichi and giving them a pat on the back. “I think that has to be the most adventurous thing you’ve done in years!”

“Though that time he played with that Snakehead-”

“Asahi, _shut up_. We promised to never say anything about it.”

“Oho? Tell us about this story, Sawamura~”

* * *

Thankfully, the rest of the day was spent sightseeing uninterrupted by any other predators. They had stayed by the ocean floor instead of nearing the surface again.

It hadn’t changed too much, everything was still new to them. From all the reefs of coral to animals that only lived in the sea. They hadn’t gone too far from Sereena and there were already an overwhelming amount of new things to take in. Kiyoyo was particularly taken by the kelp forest they visited.

“Daichi, look!” Asahi suddenly pointed out, nudging the other. Daichi turned from the conversation he was having with Bokuto and spotted the large sea turtle drifting by. It was a sight that they’d often heard about, turtles from where they lived were pretty small and this sea turtle easily doubled their size and some more.

“Wow,” Daichi said breathless, taking in the sea green shades of its shell and skin and the difference its flippers had compared to the turtles he had seen before. Kuroo grinned at the amazed faces they had before leading them over to a few stalks of seaweed by some rocks.

“Look, over there.”

They all stared at the seemingly boring seaweed before a slight movement caught their eye.

“Ah, it’s a seahorse,” Kiyoko pointed out.

Amongst the stalks of seaweeds was indeed a leafy seahorse, curled up by its tail to the plant and pretending to be the plant.

Asahi grinned, subtlety pointing to another section of the seaweed. “Look, there’s more over there.”

“They look just like leaves,” Sugawara observed, tilting his head to get different angles of the seahorses. It reminded him of the tree leaves that often drifted onto the river surface or those balls of seaweed they sometimes find in lakes.

“They’re small,” Daichi commented, glancing up at Kuroo who was intently marvelling at him with a genuine smile that quickly was replaced with a smirk.

“They don’t grow very big. I think the biggest I’ve ever seen was the size of my hand.”

“Hey, if you want to see something cool, you guys should check out the clown fish!” Bokuto waved them over to another patch of seaweed but pointed to the sea anemones on the rock beside it.

“Don’t get too close to the anemones,” Kuroo warned them as they went to go look. It was something most oceanfolk knew from experience, he wasn’t sure if they would have learned about it in the rivers. “They’ll sting you if you touch them.”

At the warning, they cautiously got closer to the plants with many small swaying tentacles. Bokuto pointed between two of them and whispered, “If you stay still, it’ll come out.”

All of them floated as still as they can, bar for Kenma and Akaashi who were further away and merely watching them. Within a few moments a tiny head peeked out before it zipped out of its hiding place and into another anemone.

“That’s a clownfish!” Bokuto informed them happily. “They’re really colourful.”

* * *

Akaashi watched as Bokuto regaled the newcomers with stories about the ocean, though, more specifically, tried to impress Sawamura to the best of his abilities.

It was slightly odd to see his friend actively try to court someone, if only because he had never tried wholeheartedly before, having never been interested beyond friendship. Akaashi wondered if Bokuto’s interest in Sawamura would fade or if it was the result of the competition he and Kuroo had unintentionally started in an attempt for Sawamura’s attention.

Kuroo, however, fell fast and fell hard compared to Bokuto. He was definitely interested in Sawamura.

A part of him was worried because the two were close and should Sawamura pick one of them, it was possible that would drive an unintentional wedge between them-

Or, he considered, they could all become mated together, seeing how Bokuto and Kuroo were doing a pretty fine job at courting Sawamura together instead of actively fighting each other. Which was unusual seeing as mated pairs were very hostile towards anyone that made any kind of advances onto their mates.

“They don’t even know where this is going do they,” Kenma commented from beside him, observing the others. Akaashi snorted.

“Not at all.”

* * *

The next day Daichi was taken to a close off rocky island by Bokuto and Kuroo under the claims of wanting to show him some tortoises. Akaashi and Kenma had taken Asahi and Sugawara to see a few underwater caves nearby while Kiyoko had gone off with her courtmate.

“They don’t live in the water so we gotta surface to see them,” Bokuto said as they swam closer to the island. Their surroundings got much rocker the closer they got and Daichi could see some entrances to, what must be, the underwater caves they had talked about.

“I’ve only seen small dryland turtles,” Daichi admitted as he swam beside Kuroo who sniggered and teased him for not seeing much animals and how ‘ _you riverfolk must be so deprived of so many wonders_ ’.

“We are not!” Daichi gently punched Kuroo with an amused annoyance. “We have alligators and snakeheads.”

“I’ve heard of snakeheads before,” Kuroo started, rubbing his shoulder where Daichi had punched him in mock pain. “But what are alligators?”

Daichi blinked before adorably scrunching up his face in thought. “They’re like...flat killer whales? With four feet and lots of teeth.”

“A flat killer whale?” Bokuto echoed from in front of them. “Sounds weird.”

Daichi chuckled and admitted, “Yeah, that makes them seem funny. They’re pretty dangerous though.”

“I’d like to meet one, Sawamura, you need to show us one someday,” Bokuto said, flipping around to stare pleadingly at him. Daichi smiled and nodded before saying, “Only if you guys can go into freshwater- they live in rivers and lakes.”

“How about after the meetup? If you haven’t decided what to do yet,” Kuroo suggested as they stopped to float near the surface, surrounded by pillars of rocks. They were pretty much right next to the island where they wanted to be.

“That sounds good,” Daichi agreed. “After Kiyoko figures out whether she’s courting or not.”

He then glanced up at the surface, where the sunlight was filtering down on them- it made Kuroo’s scales glow a fiery red, vivid and bold. “Aren’t you going to show me the tortoises?”

Bokuto grinned and took his hand, tugging him up to surface. They popped out of the water and Daichi blinked the water in his eyes out as he adjusted to the dry air. Kuroo popped up beside him and he paused for a moment and stared.

Kuroo blinked back at him, pushing off the fringe that had plastered itself to his face. “What?”

“Your hair,” Daichi stuttered. It was a much different appearance from the huge mess of wavy thick strands that floated up on his head awkwardly underwater. Above water, the wet hair was weighted straight down and framed his face.

“It’s such a different look isn’t it?!” Bokuto laughed and Daichi turned to look at his hair, which was also different from it’s curly waviness underwater; it was now curled naturally around his face, the multi colored hair suiting him very well.

As he marveled over the different looks they both had, Kuroo chuckled and patted his hair. “Your hair doesn’t change at all outside of the water.”

Daichi patted his hair himself with a short laugh. “I like to keep it short.”

“It looks good on you,” Kuroo complemented, watching as the remaining water dripped down Daichi’s face.

“I wish I could say to same to you,” Daichi countered with a teasing grin, though that wasn’t true at all. Kuroo with his hair down looked amazing and it gave him a whole other elegant look combined with his fluttering fins.

Bokuto snickered at their remarks before patting them both. “Come on, we need to go stake out on the rocks to see a tortoise.”

Following the other two, who had probably done this many times before, Daichi pulled himself out of the water and onto the low rock, the rough surface dragging across his scales a bit uncomfortably as he felt his gills ‘sink’, for the lack of better word, before they were supported enough to stay open and allow him to breathe out of water.

The rock they had climbed onto was a long flat rectangle and the way Kuroo and Bokuto both settled down on it comfortably made him certain that they did in fact do this often. He laid down, facing the direction the other two were, and flicked his tail to splash some water onto them.

“Where are the tortoise?” he asked, seeing nothing but the rocky grass covered plains of the island. His voice was an echoing chip and thrill out of the water and he cringed; he always hated how shrill and loud their voices were when they were out of water.

Kuroo tilted his head and replied at a slightly lower tone, filled with clicks and warbles, “They’re usually over there, we might need to wait for a bit before we see one though.”

Daichi shrugged and settled down, shifting so his entire body was curled on the rock. The sunlight was rather nice and he wouldn’t mind actually relaxing and sunbathing for once; he hadn't gotten the chance to in a while.

Kuroo followed his example and laid down, though he left his tail fins dipping in the water. Bokuto had slipped back into to water to hang onto the rocks by his impressive arms and rested his head on his crossed arms.

“Just making sure, but there aren’t any humans here right.” Daichi glanced around for any signs of human activity, though he doubted the two would have brought them here if there was any.

“Nah,” Bokuto drawled, making waves in the water. “We haven’t seen them come to this island.”

“Sometimes there will be a ship though, so we’ll have to keep an eye from that.” Kuroo motioned to the rocks surrounding them. “But we're pretty much out of sight- it's enough for us to get away if they do come.”

Daichi nodded, eyeing the little area they were in a little closer. They had a direct exit back into deeper water and the sand could probably be stirred up if they needed to conceal their movements in the very clear water; the rocky pillars were positioned in the perfect places to block far off views of them but let them stare perfectly at the shores of the island. It was perfect.

“Impressive place,” he commented. The two of them grinned.

The three of them set down for a long wait, which wasn’t bad at all since two of them were soaking up rare warm sunbeams while the other was dozing off a bit and humming little quiet songs.

Kuroo lifted himself up to rest on his elbows and peeked at Daichi with a little soft smile. Daichi had his eyes closed and he was completely relaxed; Kuroo would have thought he was asleep if it wasn’t for the occasional little hums he let out that synced up beautifully with Bokuto’s little songs. His skin and scales were no longer damp, dried by the sunlight but the sunlight also brushed the black scales with a soft, warm glow that suited Daichi. Daichi’s face was littered with tiny black scales, mostly along his chin and jaw, they were translucent but it accented him perfectly in Kuroo’s opinion.

Kuroo released silent, fond breath, eyes closing to bask in the moment before he laid down again, the gentle sound of his fins moving in water barely interrupting the little melody Bokuto and Daichi had going.

* * *

“Guys, get up! Look!” Bokuto hissed and Daichi and Kuroo both pushed themselves up, directing their eyes towards where Bokuto was pointing.

While they had been contently dozing, a large tortoise had come into view on the island, its long neck stretching as it slowly made its way across the island.

“That thing’s huge,” Daichi said amazed, leaning closer to get a better look at it. It had dry, wrinkled skin and gnarly claws; it was all dusty brown and it was much much bigger than he expected.

“I think they’re really cool,” Bokuto chirped, pulling himself out of the water to sit on the rock with them, peering at the tortoise as it walked out of view. “We don’t see them anywhere else other than around here.”

Daichi suddenly burst out laughing, heaving for air as his sides cramped from laughing too hard.

“What?” Bokuto asked, looking for what was so funny.

Daichi waved a shaky hand towards Kuroo and cackled again, curling up tighter on the rock, unable to speak. Kuroo flipped his tail and splashed water onto all of them, scowling.

“His hair!” Daichi spat out as soon as he could before falling back into a flood of giggles and snickers.

“Oh, that.” Bokuto shrugged it off, it had stopped becoming something hilarious when you see it every other day or so. Though he had nearly injured himself laughing when he first saw it.

“I’m very hurt here,” Kuroo stated so blandly that Daichi couldn't help laughing again.

“I’m going to leave,” Kuroo threatened as he splashed more water at them. Daichi rolled over to lay flatly on his back as the last bit of his laughter was breathed out and he reached over to poke Kuroo in the hip. “I can’t believe your hair is an even worse mess above water.”

Kuroo ran his hands through his hair, now dried and sticking straight up, trying in vain to flatten it and sighed. “Yeah, I know.”

Daichi heaved himself up again and leaned over to tug at his hair and Kuroo froze, eyes wide and heart racing. Daichi was oblivious to it, patting the oddly soft and bushy hair.

“I don’t see how it’s like that,” Daichi said mirthfully. Kuroo shrugged, not having an answer himself, hyper aware of Daichi’s large and warm hand.

“Your’s too,” Daichi added, pointedly looking at where Bokuto’s hair started curling up further. His hair wasn’t completely dry seeing as he had taken a dip into the water sometime ago, but from what he could tell it was curling up around his face.

“I think it’s cool,” Bokuto defended, patting his hair. Daichi grinned, reaching down to splash a handful of water at him.

“No offense meant.” Daichi glanced at Kuroo to let him know he was also included. Daichi laid back down again, facing the sky and not meeting their eyes, scratching embarrassedly at his cheek.

“It suits the two of you.”

* * *

“So, Daichi.”

“Hm?”

“I have something important to tell you.”

Daichi rolled over from where he was resting on the kelp bed to look questioningly at Sugawara, who was sitting in another nest, looking at him intently. He was tired from all the exploring and sightseeing they had done earlier that day and he had been looking forward to sleeping. Asahi was already asleep behind him, in his own bed and Kiyoko was spending as much time as she could squeeze into today with her courtmate. Kuroo, Bokuto, Akaashi and Kenma had also gone back to rest after parting with them.

“I know we don’t know much about oceanfolk and their culture- but Oikawa told me something that I think you need to know.”

At the rather serious tone, he sat up to focus on Sugawara, who looked rather sheepish as he explained, “I didn’t think about it but when I started getting handsy with him and and Terushima like I always do with you guys, I got threatened.”

“Threatened?” Daichi repeated, alarmed.

“Well, I got hissed at and I nearly started a fight.”

“Oh my god, Suga.” Daichi groaned. “What did you do though?”

Sugawara perked up at that, which Daichi thought was weird because a fight was the very last thing any of them wanted, and leaned closer to him. “See, it turns out that oceanfolk aren’t touchy with each other. I touched someone's mate so that doubled the offense.”

“...They’re not?”

“Nope, nothing unless you’re really close friends, mated, courting or family.”

Daichi was silent for a moment before he pulled a horrified face and threw himself back down into the bed. He hadn’t been at all averse to touching, it was normal to touch each other even if it was just a brushing of tails- honestly the small passages some of them had to pass through in rivers made the touching unavoidable.

“Oh my god, Suga. I kept touching Kuroo and Bokuto.”

Sugawara burst out laughing and hiccuped. “Yes- I was aware. I didn’t think you were unaware honestly. You didn’t notice the way none of them ever got close enough to even brush fins?”

“Nooo,” Daichi moaned in despair. He felt horribly guilty, recalling every time he had invaded their personal space. They hadn’t seemed offended by it, maybe that’s why he never noticed, brushing it off as just certain people preferring to have their own space. “Why didn’t they say anything?”

“Yeah- about that.” Sugawara reached over to slap him upside the head. “They’re courting you, you dense moron.”

“What.”

Sugawara shook his head, rolled his eyes and repeated, “They’re. Courting. You.”

“That can’t be-” Daichi cut himself off and sat there, stumped. It actually explained why some of the questions they had asked seemed out of place, or the fact that they had brought food- supplying food for a potential mate seemed to be present in both cultures if he was right- and just in general dragging him off with them instead of their entire group.

Daichi let out a dying noise, burrowing deeper into the kelp bedding as Sugawara cackled.

“I thought they were when I first saw you with them- they were so close to you and touchy. It was pretty much confirmed when they brought you food and took you on your own private adventures.”

Daichi felt like he had been thrown into the air, flailing, and he tried to come to terms with this new information. “ _Both of them_?!”

“Well, you know how hostile someone can get if someone made an attempt on their mate- and with this no touching thing with oceanfolk- I don’t think you’d have a problem accepting both their courts,” Sugawara reasoned, taking way too much joy in seeing his usually fearless friend thrown so off balance. He couldn't help teasing even more, “Look at that, you got two very beautiful merfolk chasing after your tail.”

“Shut up I swear, Suga,“ Daichi threatened, raising his head just enough to glare at the other. Sugawara stamped down on his giggles as much as he could before staring at him expectedly.

Daichi avoided the look, rolling over to stare at the cave wall, dimly lit by a glowing coral plant. “..What?”

“What are you planning to do?”

“Nothing.”

“Daichi,” Sugawara scolded. “They at least deserve an answer.”

“What am I supposed to say? I’m sorry I don’t know how to deal with this please let it go?”

“Say yes, idiot. Accepting their court doesn’t mean you’ll be mates- get to know each other better at least.”

Daichi stayed silent and eventually Sugawara laid back down. Asahi whispered from where he lay, having woken up at some point during their chat, softly and quietly, putting the words that floated in the back of his head hidden by nervousness and disbelief, into reality.

“Isn’t this something you wanted, Daichi? You like them, we can see that.”

* * *

The next day was the last day of the Meet and Greet and Daichi stalled as much as he could before their meeting with the others.

They would be going to Akaashi’s tribe and stay there for a while, all of them had welcomed them. Akaashi had told them they could also stay with them if they’d like, they wouldn't have to join the tribe to stay.

“Are you nervous?” Kiyoko spoke, startling him from where he was packing his things as slowly as he could. At his confused look, she elaborated, “About courting.”

“Ah,” Daichi bit his lip and tried carelessly shrugging. “Not exactly.”

Kiyoko hummed knowingly before squeezing his shoulder. “I asked to court Yachi, we had a little communication problem, but we’re fine.”

Daichi caught the hidden meaning under the announcement and gave her a small smile. “Congratulations. I guess you’ll be going with her tomorrow than?”

Kiyoko nodded. Officially courting pairs stuck out by themselves to get to know each other without the interference of others; they’ll be taking their Journey with high hopes.

“Thanks, Kiyoko. You’ll visit us after?”

“Of course.”

* * *

Daichi steeled himself, taking deep breaths that he didn’t need and made sure to not stop moving because if he did, he knew he was going to turn around and avoid it as much as he could.

Akaashi noticed him first, nodding a short greeting and Daichi was very much aware of how all of them had a purposefully amount of space between them all- other than Bokuto and Kuroo who were closer to each other but the space was still there.

“Sawamura!” Bokuto greeted happily, brightening ever the slightest and- oh god how did he miss all of this before, Bokuto was barely subtle. Daichi merely gave Kuroo and Bokuto a short nod and turned to the other two.

“Could I- uh- talk to those two in private?”

Kenma turned around and swam away without a beat, throwing back a short quiet ‘good luck’ that he barely heard. Akaashi eyed him for a moment before stating, “I wish you the best with those two.”

As he left, Daichi wondered if he was the only one that didn’t know anything about their interest in him- or apparently his own interest that was somewhat obvious.

Kuroo inched closer to him, and he was now all too aware of the brushing of fins. “What did you want to talk about?”

“I want to court the both of you,” Daichi blurted out as fast as he could and watched for their reactions. Kuroo had flinched and was staring at him in shock while Bokuto went speechless, eyes wide and slightly confused.

“But- I thought we were?” Bokuto burst out, Kuroo nodded slowly in agreement.

Daichi looked away and explained, “I didn’t know. You- I didn’t know that you showed your intent to court by interacting with me- aren’t you two mated?”

“What? You didn't know?” Kuroo gasped, “But what about- we approached you! We made it pretty clear we were interested! And we’re not- we’re friends!”

“And you didn’t reject us!” Bokuto added, attempting to make some sense of everything. “You just told us to give you space!”

“I meant space for me to swim!” Daichi clarified, mortified. He felt his spines raise in an, ineffective, defense against his emotions.

“OH.”

Daichi gave into the urge and buried his head into his hands. “I’m sorry about the misunderstanding. I- Well, in the rivers we declare our intention to court so I didn’t know that you guys had asked me or intended anything like that.”

“Oh,” Kuroo echoed faintly through the edge of his lips curled up as the amusing part of the situation caught onto him.

“So you didn’t mean anything by touching us back?” Bokuto said sadly, fins drooping. Daichi hurriedly straightened up, shaking his head.

“No- I didn’t know they were courting actions but I don’t take any of it back,” Daichi firmly stated before adding, “Though I am sorry that I did all of that without knowing it meant more to you two than me.”

“But you do want to court us?” Bokuto pressed. Daichi crossed his arms, feeling vulnerable as he met Bokuto’s sharp gaze and then Kuroo’s observant eyes.

“...Yes.”

Kuroo’s soft, genuine smile and Bokuto’s closed-eyed beam sent a sluggish warmth crawling through his body and he shifted, curling his hands, curling his plain tail that somehow had attracted others attentions.

“Sawamura,” Kuroo drawled his name out warmly. “Would you court us?”

“You don’t need to ask again!” Daichi sputtered, shoulders raising. Bokuto leaned closer and objected, “You never knew, that means we never asked! So- Sawamura, court us.”

“You already know the answer!”

Bokuto laughed, freely slinging an arm around Daichi and pressing close. Kuroo chose to take one of Daichi’s hands and pressed a testing brush of his lips to his wrist, hiding a smile when Daichi slowly and softly curled his hand to cup his face.

* * *

Once the confusion had been cleared up, much to Daichi’s embarrassment of it even happening in the first place, things became very apparent that the other two were in fact courting him.

And together at that.

Daichi had seen attempts at hitting on mated pairs and the pair did not take well to it at all- if there was something merfolk got hostile about it was protecting their tribe and mate.

Bokuto and Kuroo on the other hand, were nowhere near hostile towards each other, the closest thing Daichi had seen was the friendly banter and rivalry they had- and it was just that, friendly. Not at all aggressive.

“Sawamuraaa,” Kuroo called, slinking up to him and poking him in the belly. “Come on, Bokuto found the perfect place.”

Daichi grabbed Kuroo’s wrist, rolling his eyes. “Stop that.”

“But you seem to be picking up some more weight since your first day here,” Kuroo said with a grin. “It’s adorable and functional- plus that means we’re feeding you nicely.”

Daichi huffed, letting him go and swimming away to where Bokuto was waving his arms. Kuroo snickered and followed him.

“I already ordered for you guys,” Bokuto said before grinning at Daichi and handing him a shell with a meat he had never seen before. “You have to try everything!”

“What's this?” he asked, picking at it a bit before taking a small bite. He scrunched up his face and handed the shell over to Kuroo who laughed at his face but took it away from him.

“It’s swordfish,” Bokuto informed before handing another shell to him. “That’s shark meat.”

Daichi stared at the chunks of what apparently was one of the most fearful predators in the sea and took a tiny piece, chewing it slowly. He gave a curious hum before eating another, bigger chunk.

“Not as bad as you thought, huh?” Kuroo commented before he took it away from him. “Save some room for the other things, Sawamura.”

He was handed a shell full of what he recognized was eel and he tentatively chewed one before shrugging. “I didn’t think they would taste like that.”

“I don’t like them personally,” Kuroo easily admitted, giving the rest to Bokuto who eagerly ate the leftovers.

Bokuto elbowed Kuroo with a smirk and said, “I’m not as picky as this one.”

“I just have better tastes than you,” Kuroo shot back. “Who likes to eat lobster when you can have normal, tasty fish like mackerel.”

Bokuto stuck out his tongue out at him. “Who likes to eat boring fish like mackerel?”

Daichi snorted, utterly amused as the two dissolved into a long banter detailing exactly what the other would or wouldn't eat and insulting each other over every reason they gave. He glanced at the last shell he was given and rolled his eyes.

Because Bokuto had gotten mackerel despite claiming they were boring and tasteless.

* * *

The end of the Meet and Greet ended without much fanfare, many of the the merfolk had left towards the end of the week, leaving only a small handful of them still in the city. They all said their congratulations to Kiyoko and her courtmate as they left, being one of the few pairs to leave at the end of the meet rather than when they had began courting.

The remainder of Daichi’s tribe met up with Kuroo and Bokuto after Kiyoko’s departure.

“Where’s Akaashi and Kenma?” Sugawara wondered as they came up to the two. They all had their reed packs with them, though the other two had what looked like packs made of seaweed instead of their reeds.

“They’re by the city gates already,” Bokuto explained, fidgeting. He was ready to leave the city and go back to the wide, endless ocean. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah.”

As they made their way towards the city gates, all around them the colourful decorations of shells and various plants and corals were being taken down, waiting for the next time they’d hold an event at this city.

“We don’t actually live too far from the city, just a couple of miles north. The water’s a bit colder in our territory but we have a lot of space,” Kuroo rambled. “Yamamoto- that’s one of our tribe members- he came from warmer waters so if you have any problems adjusting, he could probably give you all some tips.”

“It’d be easier if you all stored up some fat,” Bokuto advised. “Usually we’re fine in either warm or cold water, but I’m not sure if you’d all be?”

“Our rivers and lakes get cold at times,” Daichi answered, “We’ll probably be fine.”

“That’s good to hear,” Kuroo grinned at them before inching towards Daichi, Bokuto doing the same on his other side. Sugawara and Asahi swam up a little, silently giving them space.

“So, we have a question,” Kuroo said quietly, leaning towards Daichi to lower the chance of being overheard. Bokuto nodded, eyes darting back.

“We know that you accepted both our courts, but- see- um,” Bokuto fumbled for the words, picking at the scales on the back of his hands. “We wanted to know when you’d like to have your- uh. Pick? Or if you’d pick one of us soon?”

“Because a courting journey would be rather awkward if you had both of us there,” Kuroo tried to joke, awkwardly shrugging.

Daichi stared at them, stopping dead in his tracks and forcing the two to also stop. Neither of them met his eyes or each other’s.

“You’re joking...right?” Daichi asked, slowly. They stayed silent and that was answer enough. He sighed, reaching out to grab both their wrists. “Look at me you two.”

Bokuto met his eyes at his request but Kuroo refused to, curling his fingers in his grip. He gave Kuroo’s wrist a light tug, squeezing. “Kuroo.”

Slowly, the other swallowed and glanced at him before glancing away again. Daichi didn’t press, looking at both of them with a fond look.

“If you’ll remember, I thought you two were both mated before I even asked and I asked to court you _both_.”

They both perked up, Kuroo looking at him quickly.

“You mean, both of us?” Bokuto repeated with a slightly awed tone. He shared a glance with Kuroo and tilted his head. “I mean, we’ve always been close.”

Kuroo grinned brightly, much less tense. “I don’t have any problems with this! Especially not you, Bokuto.”

“Me neither,” Bokuto returned brightly. Daichi squeezed their wrists and rolled his eyes.

“I know two mates isn’t- well, common to say the least. But- erm, I like you both,” Daichi bit out the last words. “And you two have been courting me together and not fighting each other.”

As if just realizing that fact, the two stared shocked at each other, very much surprised as they recalled their actions. It had been natural, nothing about what they had done was awkward or forced or rubbed them in the wrong way. They had both courted Daichi, even if he hadn’t known at the time, and neither of them had minded at all- in fact, they shared the moments with each other.

“You two seriously didn’t realize?” Daichi snickered. At least he wasn’t the only one that could be oblivious.

Kuroo shrugged slightly embarrassed. “It was all natural to us.”

* * *

After they all caught back up with the others, they set out on the trip to Akaashi’s tribe. Along the way they were treated to stories of their various adventures and places they’ve explored. Occasionally, they’d make a few short stops to sightsee.

They’d passed many more killer whale pods, but they stayed firmly away from the ones with children, otherwise they were actually welcomed to swim among the large predators, often singing songs.

Once, they encountered a pod of dolphins and while Kenma disliked their energetic antics, it was a blast to swim with them. Bokuto had raced with the dolphins and Sugawara took a liking to leaping with them. The dolphins eventually had to leave, going a different direction from them, but they parted with several welcoming clicks and squeaks.

Since they journey was long, though short by oceanfolk standards as many traveled all around the ocean or to opposite sides, they were required to hunt once again as their small supply of food wouldn't keep them energized for the entire trip.

Daichi was mortified when Bokuto and Kuroo both hunted for him- though he should have expected that as it was one action to show a serious courting- but he quickly returned the favor. It was also here where their differences began showing again; Daichi and the riverfolk were much more skilled at picking up prey from the ground- getting them more crabs, manta rays (though no one ate those), shellfish and, to Bokuto’s delight, lobsters whenever they came across them. The were more able to bend around rocks and coral on the ocean floor, practiced by the years of traveling through small passages and rocky streams.

The oceanfolk on the other hand, were skilled at chasing many species of fish in the wide open ocean, managing to effectively outpace them or turn sharply and immediately while swimming. Their nails were less tapered and more sharp than the riverfolk, giving them perfect weapons for hunting.

Daichi occasionally leaned up to one of the two discretely whenever they stopped to rest and during those times he’d snuggle up to them, tired from the long journey so far. The oceanfolk helped them by creating slipstreams and letting them swim in it, but the heavier density of the ocean took a toll on them.

“We’re not too far off,” Bokuto said, noticing a large rock formation on the ground below them as they swam by. “Those rocks are near the edges of our territory.”

“That’s great,” Sugawara sighed, relieved. All their tails were aching at all the exercise, unused to just how big the ocean was and how the oceanfolk were managing to continue on without any signs of fatigue.

Daichi, who was swimming between his courtmates, just a little bit behind to take advantage of their slipstream, agreed with a groan, reaching his arms out to stretch out his back.

“Already tired?” Kuroo teased, trailing his tail fins against his back. Daichi didn’t raise up to the taunt, freely admitting, “Yes, I’m not used to trips this long without a long break in between and at this pace.”

“We can take our time with our own Journey,” Kuroo said quietly, fondly watching him out the side of his eye. Bokuto nodded, just close enough to hear as the others had given them some distance for an illusion of privacy.

“We’d be able to show you much more things too,” Bokuto whispered with a slight frown. They had passed by many things that he had wanted to show Daichi, because sometimes, Daichi would get these sad little looks on his face whenever he talked about his previous home.

“Maybe after we rest for a bit?” Daichi nearly pleaded. They laughed but readily agreed.

* * *

Much to their intense relief, they reached the tribe base very shortly. Akaashi quickly excused himself to talk to some people while the others were warmly welcomed back. Daichi and the other riverfolk were happily greeted and they were led to a rather large cave for them to stay in at the moment. They had all collapsed into the kelp beds, exhausted from the journey.

When Daichi woke up the next day alone in the den, he slowly stretched out his sore tail and muscles, mulling over everything that had happened.

It had only been thirteen days since they had left their lake. Nine days since he first met Kuroo and Bokuto. And in a couple of days, he would be once again going out, traveling with the two as courtmates- and hopefully come back as official mates.

While the purpose of traveling solely with your courting partner was to get to know each other and essentially live with each other for an amount of time- commonly a couple of months- then become mates at the end of the journey, it was also a test because sometimes, pairings don’t work out and the journey is either ended early or continued as friends.

From what he got to know of the two and that little thread of warmth that burned within his chest, he hoped for the best.

If everything worked out then the three of them, as official mates, would either settle back into this tribe, or, they would establish their own territory and form their own tribe.

With a sigh, he pushed himself up from where he lay on the kelp bedding. Daichi stared at his tail and smiled.

Because of all the times he’d wished he had a more colorful tail like Sugawara or Kiyoko, or even just something rich and warm and earthy like Asahi, it was this plain black tail that had gained him his two wonderful potential mates.

* * *

“Congratulations!”

“I guess we won’t be seeing you all for a while now, huh?”

“I wish you the best on your journey, Sawamura.”

“Akaaashi,” Bokuto hollered. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Nothing, Bokuto.”

Daichi snickered but a part of him agreed, though maybe not for the reasons everyone else was thinking. The two were amazingly embarrassing with their affection and he didn’t know how he could still face some of these people after being seen by them.

Five days after they had reached the tribe, the three of them were setting out on their own Journey, all ready and packed and excited, anticipation running through their veins. Daichi himself had been greeted curiously by many members, wondering who it was that made two of their own chase after him.

Though he enjoyed learning from the other members, he hadn’t been able to wait to leave with Kuroo and Bokuto. Sugawara and Asahi had found a companionship with many of the other folk, though they both made sure to make sometime to hang around, just the three of them. Daichi would be leaving them not soon after Kiyoko had.

“I’ll see you guys in a couple of months then?” Daichi softly said to Sugawara and Asahi. They nodded and Sugawara punched him.

“We’ll have a lot to catch up on!”

He then pulled them all in for a hug and they hugged for what would be the last time in a long while.

“Stay safe Daichi,” Asahi murmured. “And have fun.”

“Yeah.” Daichi closed his eyes and tightened his arms around the two of them. They’d been together for many many years, grew up alongside each other. And while they weren’t surprised at departures like this- no matter how temporary- it was bittersweet.

“Ahem,” Kuroo coughed as he drifted over. They turned their heads to look at him. “So- I know that you guys don’t mind being all touching, but-”

Sugawara snickered, pulling back and raising his hands jokingly. “Hands off of Daichi, got it.”

Asahi laughed quietly too but also pulled back. Daichi rolled his eyes before going over to entwine their hands. “You’ll have to get used to that, they’re just friends, Kuroo.”

“I will, just...not now,” Kuroo replied, squeezing their hands with an apologetic look. Daichi smiled fondly.

“That’s fine.”

Bokuto swam over, throwing both arms over Daichi’s shoulders and pressed in close- Daichi jolted for a moment, making sure his spines weren’t raised. “Daichiiiii.”

“Hm?” Daichi inquired, turned to see Bokuto as he pressed their cheeks together.

“You ready to go?”

Daichi looked at the majority of the tribe members that had given them congratulations and farewells lingered around them, looked at where Sugawara and Asahi were beside each other giving him soft, bright yet melancholy smiles, looked at Kuroo who was holding his hand and Bokuto who was behind him, both watching him with eyes so warm he felt like he was sunbathing.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

**Author's Note:**

> So I was supposed to actually go on about their journey and the actual getting together and stuff and the ending was totally unplanned, but I ran out of time and the story decided this was how it was going to end, no ifs ands or buts. Would anyone actually be interested in seeing a continuation of this?
> 
> Edit: I'm actually surprised at the interest for a continuation! Thank you all so much, you're all amazing. There will be a continuation! Follow the series if you're interested?
> 
> Find me on [Tumblr (cawnvictofmurder)](http://cawnvictofmurder.tumblr.com/)  
> Let me know if you liked it and thank you for reading!


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